I think the saving grace with this upcoming class is the transfers. We will have two great experienced guards in Jimmy Whitt and Jahmal McMurray. I expect a lot from Whitt since he will have a year under his belt from learning the scheme and adjusting. Our guards will continue to thrive.

The front court is what I am worried about. We will be relying on two freshmen if Semi isn't back or we don't get a good grad transfer. It will also be nice if Leo Kontopoulos becomes serviceable. Has anyone heard anything about Leo's progress?

I do often wonder if our International recruiting would be better suited somewhere other than Australia. I know why we were there (the twins opened the door and we have a coach connection) - but there have to be better sources of international players.

Dallas is definitely on the map in Germany bc of Dirk (Michigan had a very good German as I recall). Seems that there are plenty of Bigs that come out of places like Angola and parts of Africa (Yannik) - but I suppose they all come through US high Schools first as some sort of clearinghouse.

I say all of this knowing absolutely nothing about international Basketball recruiting. Chime in if you have a more informed opinion on international Basketball recruiting.

EDIT: now that I read above post, know someone will chime in that Leo is from Germany

Last edited by PonyTime on Tue Feb 14, 2017 10:25 am, edited 1 time in total.

deucetz wrote:I think the saving grace with this upcoming class is the transfers. We will have two great experienced guards in Jimmy Whitt and Jahmal McMurray. I expect a lot from Whitt since he will have a year under his belt from learning the scheme and adjusting. Our guards will continue to thrive.

The front court is what I am worried about. We will be relying on two freshmen if Semi isn't back or we don't get a good grad transfer. It will also be nice if Leo Kontopoulos becomes serviceable. Has anyone heard anything about Leo's progress?

I agree as both incoming bigs seem like more of a project to me. Hopefully the grad transfers we target can make big impacts. Would be interesting to see if we could add 2 if Semi left to help bridge the gap.

Another positive I will say is that, even if we don't get a transfer or another freshman big, Jank has proved that we can be successful with playing only 2 actual undersized Big Men (They are undersized to be playing Center). But as long as Semi doesn't leave and we could get one of the freshman big men game ready or get both to the ability to combine for 30 or minutes a game, we have the guard depth and height to be successful having one true big on the court at a time as we have done so often this year.

deucetz wrote:I think the saving grace with this upcoming class is the transfers. We will have two great experienced guards in Jimmy Whitt and Jahmal McMurray. I expect a lot from Whitt since he will have a year under his belt from learning the scheme and adjusting. Our guards will continue to thrive.

The front court is what I am worried about. We will be relying on two freshmen if Semi isn't back or we don't get a good grad transfer. It will also be nice if Leo Kontopoulos becomes serviceable. Has anyone heard anything about Leo's progress?

I agree as both incoming bigs seem like more of a project to me. Hopefully the grad transfers we target can make big impacts. Would be interesting to see if we could add 2 if Semi left to help bridge the gap.

I think Whitt and McMurray are both high level transfers that we need to keep getting. They are guys that can stabilize/lead the back court for next 2-3 years as Douglas and Landrum develop. Douglas could be the next star guard we have. Losing Shake will hurt because he is a great player with so much talent, but we have some serious guard talent and I think we will have one more year of Shake.

The FrontCourt worries me too. The key is Semi. If Semi is back I think it will be solid. All we need from a grad-transfer is a veteran junkyard dog/garbage man who can play D and hit the glass. A poor mans Tolbert or Moore would work. I think Ray might surprise us being ready to give some solid rebounding, hustle and D minutes as a big next year.

The biggest thing for me is I want Semi to be the leader of the frontcourt next year, not some random 2 grad-transfers even if we like them and they look good (would rather slide Jarrey to the 4 and get only 1 grad transfer Big if Semi left, with our guard depth). I want Semi to teach his work ethic and attitude to our two young freshman bigs.

PonyLawExpress wrote:The biggest thing for me is I want Semi to be the leader of the frontcourt next year, not some random 2 grad-transfers even if we like them and they look good (would rather slide Jarrey to the 4 and get only 1 grad transfer Big if Semi left, with our guard depth). I want Semi to teach his work ethic and attitude to our two young freshman bigs.

Everrett Ray said in one of the Rivals articles, that someone posted, that he considers Semi his mentor. I hope he is able to learn Semi's work ethic as a student and athlete.

Regardless of how Dashawn pans out we can't classify his year as a recruiting success. However, if you count the Whitt transfer as part of it then it certainly looks better. We can refer to that group as LB's last class.

Next years four frosh signed and have stayed with Jank. Add McMurray to that and it's a pretty darn good sustainability play.

Gonzaga is a good model for us and their sustained success is something we can hope to and should be able to duplicate. The facilities are first class, fan support is solid, Dallas is a great city to be young in. We have a youthful coach who the kids can relate to.

Next we put a few in the NBA, lock in the staff as best as you can these days and......oh yeah......

We're gonna get another big and as of now, neither Semi or Shake are leaving. Declaring yes, leaving no. This is life in the bigs. I don't worry about next year at all. Both Ray and Chargois are good pickups. Both will be serviceable early. Top 15 next year too. Jank plays frosh if they're ready.